Anyone who thinks they can still get by using a standalone product rather than a Suite can also save – you’ll get 15% off when you upgrade your copy of 3ds Max, 3ds Max Design, Maya or Softimage to the 2014 version and buy a sub, or a still-significant 5% if you upgrade without the subscription. Remember, Autodesk have now streamlined all their subscription processes, so you now have to be six versions back or fewer in order to upgrade – anyone using an Autodesk 2007 product or earlier will need to buy a new seat outright, and sadly won’t get the discount.

In a move we can only assume was designed to make life difficult for blogging types everywhere, Archiware have released a major new update to the asset management solution formerly known as PresSTORE, and changed its name to the far snappier Archiware P5.

New features include a simpler setup wizard, a streamlined three-step process to start your first back up and, most excitingly, LTFS support. Integration with Media LTFS means P5 can now allow you to mount and use LTO tapes as if they’re hard drives on your system – it essentially piggybacks on MediaLTFS to manage designated tape drives within your tape library and maintain separation between your archive and LTFS tapes.

As well as supporting management of your existing tape libraries, P5 also allows you to restore files from P5 Backup and Archive to a designated LTFS tape, in case, for example, you need to send those files to people who don’t have a P5 licence (maybe suggest they get one, though…)

Organising your clouds with P5 Synchronize

Not content with linking up to your LTFS library, P5 also works with ‘universal cloud connector’ WingFS. This service allows you to see all your cloud services – be they internal clouds, Google Drives, Amazon web services or workgroup Dropboxes – as a single volume, and by syncing with it P5 Synchronize to replicate files from one cloud service to another or even back them up to a local drive, so you’ve always got an extra copy should something go wrong.

Infinite indexing and snapshots

In other good news, Archiware have brought in a new, SQLite-based index engine, and scrapped the previous 4GB limit on indexes. You can now index indefinitely, and take snapshots in P5 Backup and Archive in order to perform point-in-time restores. This feature is also used to allow incremental archiving, so that P5 Synchronize only has to move around changes to your files, not every version of the full file. You can then browse different interations of a file (and its associated metadata) in the all-new overview screen.

If you’re already using PresSTORE, you’ll have to wait til P5.1 is released in the autumn before you can upgrade your existing licences, but any new users can pick up Archiware P5 now.

After impressing us with it at NAB, Tiger have finally seen fit to ship their Tbox solution – think of it as a SAN in a box – as well as new software modules projectStore PRO and cluStore TLE.

The Tbox

This is a canny little storage solution that lets you combine devices with 1GbE, 10GbE, 8Gb Fibre and 16Gb Fibre connectivity without any hassle. You simply plug whatever client device you want to work on into the Tbox, download the client software, and bingo – access to a vast amount of RAID storage.

This simple setup is sure to make the Tbox a hit with plenty of post and VFX facilities – as is the fact that you can mix any number of PC, Mac and Linux clients without having to pay a per seat licence fee. The Tbox is no slouch when it comes to capacity, either, allowing you to combine up to four 64TB expansion chassis for a maximum capacity of 320TB.

projectStore PRO

Also announced was a new software module to make working collaboratively via Tbox easier. Called projectStore PRO, the new module allows you to control who has access to your content either locally or via the web, and review those privileges at any stage of production. Top features include:

– Check-in/check-out enables sharing while preventing accidental overwrites–Public/Private Workspaces lets you choose whether to collaborate with others or work privately– Unlimited Virtual Volumes are available without formatting, resizing or pre-allocation– User/Team Management lets you control who in the team can access projects and media– Proxy Generation makes it easy to review any video clip or image sequence over the internet – Instant Search helps you locate media and projects based on their metadata– Template Creation lets you choose whether to create new projects from scratch or using templates– Easy Archiving so you can move completed projects to disk or tape– Project Sharing supportsAvid bin locking, Adobe CS, Final Cut Pro/X, ProTools 10 and more

– Unified Namespace so that you can organise, archive and access your data through a single volume– Heterogeneous Pool that combines solid-state drives, spinning disks and network shares– Life-Cycle Management to help you move files across different storage tiers during their active life– Organic Scalability allowing you to expand or contract the pool’s capacity while it’s in use– Smart Tiering Policies save time by automating data tiering based on file-type, location and age– Replication & Failover allow you to replicate data on any destination target and benefit from transparent failover– Cache-To-Tape transfer helps you minimise LTFS tape fragmentation in multi-write environments– Tape Library Virtualisation lets you integrate IBM LTFS tapes and IBM LTFS tape libraries into a your storage pool– Tape-Spanning ensures continuous writing across multiple LTFS tapes

If you’ve long lusted after Wacom’s 24HD or 22HD but were worried that you didn’t have enough space or a sturdy enough desk to support them, today’s your lucky day: Wacom have just announced the compact but extremely swish Cintiq 13HD. Take a look at our video review below and read on for full details of this new release!

With a 13.3″ 1920 x 1080 HD screen, a 700:1 contrast ratio, brightness of 250 cd/m sq and the ability to show 1.67 million colours, the Cintiq 13HD significantly ups the game from the previous most portable Wacom, the 12WX. It’s also a full kilogram lighter, meaning it’s roughly the size and weight of a MacBook Air despite managing to add a USB port for any peripherals you might need. The converter box and awkward cabling setup have been given the elbow, though – you can now connect to your computer and charge via Wacom’s single three-in-one cable, which covers HDMI and USB connectivity.

Controlling your Cintiq 13HD

Like the larger Cintiqs and Intuos5, the Cintiq 13HD comes with customisable ExpressKeys (for tips on setting them up, take a look at our video guide) a Rocker Ring and a Home button. There’s also a new Pro Pen for all your tablet-tapping needs, which will work with the Intuos4, Intuos5, Cintiq 13HD, Cintiq 21, Cintiq 22 and Cintiq 24HD/24HD touch, as long as you update to the latest drivers. It recognises 2048 levels of pressure, so you can produce highly accurate work.

Word from Wacom is that test users are finding the Pro Pen more ergonomically friendly and generally better looking than its predecessor, and that it’s fared well in usability tests. Mostly we want it because it comes in a nifty holding case that makes your spare nibs and colour rings look they could potentially be something out of a 90s Bond film, and we’re all for that.

Designing from the hip

Also new to the Cintiq 13HD is its ergonomic stand, which allows you to rest your Wacom at 22, 35 or 50 degrees from the table (you can use it without the stand, too, if you’re one of those laid back, I’ll-keep-it-in-my-lap-and-worry-about-radiation-later types).

Sony have released a free firmware update for the PMW-100, PMW-150 and PMW-200, adding i.LINK DVCAM input and improving Auto Focus, Auto Knee and ATW, among other things. The full list of changes follows, courtesy of Sony.

2.) TLCS Operation – The range of selectable items has been expanded to improve TLCS operation. The default value of AGC Limit has changed from 12 to 9. The setting values of AGC Point have changed from E98, E95, E92 to E98, E95, E92, E77 and the default value has changed from E98 to E77. The A.SHT Point value cannot be larger than the AGC Point value. The default value has changed from E87 to E77

Consolidating your licences

If you’re a busy facility with ten copies of Maya, five of MotionBuilder and a few copies of 3ds Max just in case, the last thing you want to do is waste time performing admin tasks for eighteen different products, each with a different serial number, each of which were forgotten by everyone about ten minutes after the software entered the building. One of the (totally free!) services we can provide is the consolidation of all your licences for each Autodesk product, so you’ll have one serial number that covers all your Maya licences, another for all your MotionBuilder ones and a third for 3ds Max. Far easier to manage, no?

Aligning your renewal dates

Alas, subscription plans are not indefinite. At some point, your time will be up, and you’ll need to pay for the next year, three years or what have you, and if you’ve got a lot of subscriptions to manage, that can become a major budgeting headache. If you’d like to align your licences and subscriptions so that all of them expire at once, or clusters expire at the same, convenient time, we can help with that too. Give our team a call (or ask the fella on the end of the phone when you call up to buy) and we can arrange to have your licences and subscriptions expire when it’s convenient for you, making it easier to budget for renewals.

We can either help you produce a plan of what you need to renew and when in order to get out of whatever rats’ nest of licences you’re trapped in and into a smooth software management workflow or, if you’re already organised, we can arrange it so that any additional licences you take on expire at the same time as your existing ones.

The Autodesk Subscription Centre is where you can track your own subscriptions and licences, and keep an eye on which are coming up for renewal. As well as being the place where you access all your Autodesk 360 cloud benefits, the Subscription Centre is where you go to request access to an older version of your software should you need it, download new releases and request any serial numbers that you’ve lost, so it’s well worth a bookmark.

Pomfort have released a major new update to their Silverstack on-set data management solution. Available now, the paid update will set new users back £400 and existing users £80, although one, two and three month subscriptions are available if you only see yourself as a short-term Silverstacker. Here are a few reasons why we think it’s worth the cash…

It’s Silverstack

And really, we think all of you should be using it. With the ability to support practically any codec and file type this is a data solution that will follow you from budget film making to the highest of high end shoots, handling audio, video, stills and production documents as it goes. All of your files are backed up to multiple locations quickly and unobtrusively, then checksum-verified. This is a good enough feature as is, but Silverstack goes one step further and does all three of these things simultaneously in a single operation.

And if you’re an Alexa, RED, Canon C300/C500 or DSLR user, you can also take advantage of Silverstack’s built-in QC, playback and metadata management features, including the ability to reel off customised reports complete with thumbnails, metadata and statistical summaries of your shoot.

All new user interface

The amount of information you can get on your Silverstack homescreen is staggering, but with version 3.0 this has all been folded into a simple three column layout. If you ever want to focus on a clip, you can simply hide the library and info bars and use the whole screen to view your key data. You can go into a single project view if your library is getting complex, use the pervasive status display to instantly see whether your ongoing jobs have failed or completed, and even see custom summary screens for your DIT and Data Wrangler, so you’re always seeing the view that’s most relevant to you. Considerately, they’ve also included a white-on-black mode, so you can read the screen easily in low light without disturbing anyone.

Improved document support

Time savers that have cropped up in Silverstack 3.0 include the ability to add metadata to multiple files at once, the ability to copy all files on a card, regardless of whether the camera they were shot with is natively supported by Silverstack, and a unified asset library that will not only hold all your clips, sidecars and production documentation, but also recognise file sequences and ingest them as a single clip. You can then preview any of these assets using the new thumbnail browser, QuickLook.

Faster file management

If there are files on a disk you’ll never want to copy, you can tell Silverstack to ignore them every time it reads the card, so you don’t have to waste time offloading content you’re not going to use. As for the files you do want to offload, you can now just drag and drop them onto the Silverstack icon on your desktop to start, specify which disk you’d prefer them to be played back on, and then created customised clip reports for each.

The JVC GY-HM650 seems to have become the preferred camera of ENG teams everywhere, with the EBU giving it two thumbs up and the BBC bagging over 500 for their news crews. But JVC aren’t resting on their laurels, oh no. Come May, we’ll have a new firmware update that adds live streaming, secure background FTP transfer and more…

Record and stream simultaneously via UDP/TCP

You can now record footage to your GY-HM650’s memory cards and stream it live to a ‘client user station’ (i.e. your DIT’s Teradek Cube) or a PC application like VLC at the same time. MPEG-4 AVCHD and H.264 streams are supported at various resolutions and bitrates, while your audio options are AAC at 128kbps (HD) and 64kbps (SD).

Web-based camera control

Once you have the new firmware, you’ll be able to control your camera from any computer, Android or iOS device with a web connection. This online interface will have more functionality than current favourite, the RM-LP25 camera controller, allowing you to adjust the AE level, iris, gain, shutter and while balance.

Multi-format recording

As well as creating 3Mbps MOV or H.264 960×540 half HD footage at 30p, 25p and 24p, you now have the option to record LP mode AVCHD (1440×1080 9Mbps) or EP mode AVCHD (1440×1080 5Mbps) and to record HD and AVCHD versions of your footage simultaneously to different SDHC or SDXC cards.

In-camera clip trimming

Using you web or on-camera interface, you can now set I/O points on clips as you record. If you use the on-camera interface, you can now trim clips you’ve recorded before transferring them, so you only need to transfer usable takes back to the studio.

Secure background FTP transfer

Speaking of transfers, you can now send files back to base in the background while you’re recording your next setup. Simply trigger the transfer, then switch back to monitor display on your on-board interface and you’ll be able to shoot away while an unobtrusive progress bar shows you how your transfer’s doing.

And for the BBC…

The BBC have apparently requested some additional features, which JVC are kindly rolling out to all of us in this update. They include 1.5x expansion on both LCD and VF; Knee Point setting in 2.5% increments from 85% to 100%; 103% white peak; an up-front record trigger and viewfinder indication when you’re outside the approved range (up to F8).

Sony’s 4K-ready NEX-FS700 is about to become 4K capable with the release of Sony’s R5 recorder and Convergent Design’s Odyssey 7Q. As Sony’s Juan Martinez explains in this clip from NAB, Sony have finalised the specs and workflow for their own R5 recorder, and have also licenced technology to Convergent Design so that they can come up with an alternative solution.

The Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q will record 4K at up to 30fps, and 2K at up to 240fps. It records to a pair of 2.5″ high performance SSDs, and can fit about 45 minutes’ worth of 2K footage on two 960GB SSDs. However, the most intriguing thing about it is that it actually ships as a 7.7″ OLED monitor, and you subsequently rent or purchase the ability to rent any codecs you need to record in from the Convergent Design website. You can hear more in this clip from newsshooter (thanks to FStopAcademy for the spot!)

Handed out to Digital Video Magazine’s selection of the best products from the show, the Black Diamond went to axle’s Gear solution, which combines axle media management, Telestream’s transcoding abilities and a quad-core Mac mini into a 1U unit that delivers plug-and-play media management capabilities.

As axle’s team explain:

One of axle Gear’s Mac mini systems is the primary server for axle’s version 1.06 media management software included in the system, while the other runs a tuned version of Telestream’s Episode Pro version 6.31 transcode software, also included. The Telestream software is automatically launched and monitored to perform two key tasks in the system:

1) generating the H.264 streaming proxy files that are used in the axle user interface, and
2) outputting a user-selectable range of HD and SD video formats for mastering, broadcast and Web applications.

axle Gear’s two Mac mini systems are mounted side-by-side in a single 1U (1.75” high, 11” deep) rackmount enclosure, allowing efficient packaging in conjunction with high-density storage systems. axle Gear is compatible with nearly any networked storage, including SAN, NAS and LTO tape technologies. The system can support multiple tiers of storage; for instance, a SAN for shared HD video editing, a NAS for use as a parking area for media that are not currently being edited, and an LTO tape library for longer-term archiving.

The system I/O includes two Gigabit Ethernet ports, two Thunderbolt connections, two FireWire 800 connections, and eight USB 3.0 interfaces. Working storage is provided by dual Fusion drive subsystems, each 1 terabyte in size. Multiple options are available from axle’s resellers to expand both the system’s I/O and its working storage. axle Gear comes with a one-year warranty on all hardware, and a one-year software maintenance contract on all software.